1. Technical Field of the Invention
The disclosure generally relates to the shelter and more specifically to the portable shelter for use in distressed situation during inclement weather and/or armed assault.
2. Description of Related Art
Shelters built as part of a house structure or placed in basement as in Bishop 2007—U.S. Pat. No. 7,237,362 B1. The problem with this approach is that occupants of such structure became trapped inside the destroyed house. The other problem is that incorporating shelter in an existing structure is costly and requires specialized service to do it. Yet another problem is that houses mostly affected by hurricanes do not have basements.
In other approach self-contained structures are build for underground placement as in Poole 1999—U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,866. The problem with such approach is digging a hole in the ground for placement of the structure where not every location permits this operation due to rocky base or high level of groundwater. In addition, a shelter buried for some time in the ground often become unworthy of relocation.
Yet another approach was to construct aboveground shelters from modular elements as in Horlander 2008—U.S. Pat. No. 7,458,305 B1. The problem with such approach is that modules are assembled with use of steel parts, which increase the cost, and while left exposed to elements over time weaken the security of structure. The other problem with aboveground modular shelters is that vertical walls of rectangular shapes, are affected by inclement elements similarly to house walls.
Another approach is to use conical shape apparatus made predominantly of steel as in Trochan publication US2013/0125478 A1. The problem with this approach is high cost of manufacturing, complicated machining, and protecting relatively small number of occupants.
Yet another approach is to use portable or personal shelter in the form of half-pipe, dome, or polyhedral prism made of sheet metal or plastic as in Arnold 2002—U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,278 B1. The problem with this approach is that it is either not strong enough to protect occupant from falling debris or is not comfortable to hide from the storm for prolonged period, and does not protect in the event of armed assault.
Therefore, it is apparent that there is a need for a shelter, which is cost-effective and easy to manufacture, store, transport, install, and relocate, and can efficiently protect multiple occupants during storm, hurricane or armed assault.